Whaea Lesa photographed the information board that was installed by the E.D.I.T group and shared a lot of information with Room 7. We read...
*When Edgecumbe was mainly swamp land, this area had been known by the Maori tribe as Te Wai Koropupu-O-Kaimanawa (the flowing waters of Kaimanawa) but then when the Mataatua canoe came later on, the captain of the canoe, Toroa, named this place Rangitaaiki.
*Then much later, European settlers came to this area that was still very swampy and renamed the area as Riversleigh at the beginning of the 20th Century.
*You could only get to Riversleigh settlement by an unmetalled road from Te Teko or from a ferry service from the other side of the river (on the Awakeri side of the river).
The railway bridge and railway tracks were finished in 1920!
In 1987, the earthquake badly damaged the tracks and trains never used the tracks again.
Today, older children and teenagers jump off the railway bridge but this is not so very safe! Some years ago, a young teenager jumped off that same bridge and hurt herself so badly, she is now in a wheel-chair. Many of the local people know her and you can often see her wheeling around town.
The Edgecumbe Fire Brigade building is on the outside of Edgecumbe. It is found before you see the Fonterra Factory (that was once the Rangitaiki Plains Factory Ltd).
This Fire Brigade is very busy! They are often called out to emergencies all around the Edgecumbe township and surrounding rural areas.
In 1987 during the Edgecumbe Earthquake, the Riverslea Shopping Mall was damaged. Another Riverslea Mall was erected but it has not been 'quite' the same since that first shopping mall!
The Rangitaiki Plains Company Ltd helped pay for the construction of the original building and it cost them almost $1,000,000! The Riverslea mall was one of the biggest undercover 'rural' shopping centres in New Zealand!
I wonder who created this mural? Mrs Reid said that a young artist was asked to paint this mural on the river-bank wall but when he was to finish the head of the 'taniwha' (if you look carefully on the right hand side of the mural, behind the bars, you can see the body of the taniwha!), someone in the community said "...a taniwha would be too negative to have", so the artist never finished the mural and he never came back to Edgecumbe to finish (so the story goes). Can you see where the head of the taniwha might have gone?
The artist was Marc Spijerbosch and some of our local helpers!
Also, the metal railing you can see on the right side of the picture was installed by the Lion's Team in September 2912 and they also laid levelled out a new concrete footpath so you can walk alongside this beautiful mural!
Some of the children in Room 7 had aunties, uncles, mums and dads help with the mural!
The Lions Club and a man named Sid lay down the concrete and installed the metal railing.
Some of Room 7 children are standing on the concrete paving that was laid by some of the Lions club and also the railing was installed too. The local people can enjoy looking at this mural closely as well as keeping safe!
Eastpack is across the Rangitaiki River (Whaea Lesa is standing next to the beautiful sea mural created by Mr Spijerbosch looking at the Eastpack building) and was once called Rangitaiki Fruit Packers Ltd. This kiwifruit business was founded in 1981.
This is part of the Rangitaiki River Walkerway.
The Rangitaiki River Walkway was tidied up, improved and a new garden installed along the walkway, with information signs telling small interesting stories about Edgecumbe and its local histories.
In 2012, Edgecumbe community members helped in Working Community Bees around Edgecumbe to improve and revitalize this lovely small town and the Rangitaiki River walkway was just one of those projects.
Edgecumbe has two churches.
One church is a smaller wooden church found on the way out of Edgecumbe, going to Te Teko.
The other church is bigger and made out of stone (on the outside) and is almost opposite Edgecumbe Primary School.
Edgecumbe Primary School was opened 100 years ago on the 14th of July, 1914. Edgecumbe Primary School is having a big celebration next year and the school committee and extra helpers, are very busy planning for this event and helping to clean and prepare the school for all the visitors for next year!
Once upon a time, the local primary school had been opened in three places. After they stopped ferrying children across the Thornton river because it got to dangerous, the opened a school in a barn on the western bank of the Rangitaaiki river in 1914 then it moved to where the Otakiri (or it was known as Riversleigh road ) road meets the Te Teko road in 1915 and children worked in a one-room School.
Today is the third site for Edgecumbe Primary School.
*Take a photo of the college
Edgecumbe College is only next door to Edgecumbe Primary School! Together, our school fields are 'gigantic'!
Edgecumbe College was opened in 1962.
Edgecumbe opened their 'flash-as' skate park on the 18th of February, 2012! This was a community effort and so it was a huge family celebration! Room 7 children often talk about how the skate park has a bowl. The skate park has ramps and the area is very clean and well looked after. Well done Edgecumbe!
A Mum on our 'Local Hero' wall was in a committee that helped get this skate park for our youth!
Whaea Lesa talking to a student during our Fun 4 U day in Term 1.
The Edgecumbe Rugby club is found at the Edgecumbe Domain but it is really called the Edgecumbe Sports Club. On the same nights the children have rugby practices, you can hear the Zumba classes with their music and exercises. It is a very busy rugby club and has strong support from the mums and dads.
You will find many Local Heroes here too! The mums are cooking sausage sizzles to raise money for the club, the dads and coaches are running after and coaching lots and lots of boys and some girls, how to play ripper rugby and rugby. Whaea Lesa loves to watch the 'hive of activity' here every Tuesday and Thursday nights because the community show how strong they are when they support their kids!
After the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake, an old ancient forest that had been hidden for decades and decades beneath the Rangitaiki river bed, was suddenly pushed up and raised so now today, you can see many tree stumps in the middle of the river. This ancient forest, is not far from Edgecumbe, as you paddle or boat towards Thornton beach.
This forest is both wonderful to look at and paddle past as well as spooky and eerie because we know it was an old forest hidden for a long time and now it can be seen because of a natural hazard!
*Find a photo
On March the 2nd, 1987, Edgecumbe area had a major earthquake and its magnitude was 6.3 (some say 6.9) on the Richter Scale. This earthquake also affected Kawerau, Whakatane and other surroundingareas. It created a lot of damage and it took the township a longtime to fix itself up. Some parts of Edgecumbe did not really recover, like the Edgecumbe railway tracks and bridge.
*These photos have been borrowed from the internet. They show damage done around Edgecumbe.Edgecumbe Earthquake - 1987
We have a sleeping volcano only 20 minutes away (Kawerau is closer to it!) and we have a marine volcano called White Island, or Whakaari,only 45minutes boat-ride from Whakatane. Learn more about Whakaari (White Island) by clicking on the picture below!
Yes...people once lived and worked on Whakaari!
Local-Heroes or Local People-IconsWe have pretty amazing people in Edgecumbe like our rugby coaches, parent helpers...people whogive to the community because they love Edgecumbe!!! These people are our 'Local Heroes' or 'Local People-Icons'. Local-Heroes Photo WallOur Interview with Mrs Davey-Emms
Who recognises this rugby Dad?
Who is this Dad coaching soccer?
I bet you recognise this familiar Mum!?!
The scenery around Edgecumbe is amazing, especially when you go through our native forests! Look who Whaea Lesa taught once! This person, Jono, is kayaking down the Tarawera River that is only an hour's drive from here! The Tarawera River comes from the Tarawera Lake.
Whaea Lesa asked Room 7 children to discuss what they thought Edgecumbe might have looked like
100 years ago...here are those pictures!
100 years ago! on PhotoPeach
Links to look at: *The Edgecumbe Community Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Edgecumbe-New-Zealand/170237666396473?fref=ts
*Our 'Living Heritage' class link that shows the facts and information we have found out over Term 2:
http://livingheritage.org.nz/Private/Discovering-Edgecumbe
the E.D.I.T group and shared a lot of information with Room 7. We read...
*When Edgecumbe was mainly swamp land, this area had been known by
the Maori tribe as Te Wai Koropupu-O-Kaimanawa (the flowing waters
of Kaimanawa) but then when the Mataatua canoe came later on, the
captain of the canoe, Toroa, named this place Rangitaaiki.
*Then much later, European settlers came to this area that was still
very swampy and renamed the area as Riversleigh at the
beginning of the 20th Century.
*You could only get to Riversleigh settlement by an unmetalled road
from Te Teko or from a ferry service from the other side of
the river (on the Awakeri side of the river).
In 1987, the earthquake badly damaged the tracks and
trains never used the tracks again.
Today, older children and teenagers jump off the railway bridge
but this is not so very safe! Some years ago, a
young teenager jumped off that same bridge and hurt herself
so badly, she is now in a wheel-chair. Many of the
local people know her and you can often see her
wheeling around town.
It is found before you see the Fonterra Factory (that
was once the Rangitaiki Plains Factory Ltd).
This Fire Brigade is very busy! They are often called out
to emergencies all around the Edgecumbe township and
surrounding rural areas.
Shopping Mall was damaged. Another Riverslea Mall
was erected but it has not been 'quite' the same since that
first shopping mall!
The Rangitaiki Plains Company Ltd helped pay for
the construction of the original building and it cost them
almost $1,000,000! The Riverslea mall was one of the
biggest undercover 'rural' shopping centres in New Zealand!
Mrs Reid said that a young artist was
asked to paint this mural on the river-bank wall but when
he was to finish the head of the 'taniwha' (if you look
carefully on the right hand side of the mural, behind the
bars, you can see the body of the taniwha!), someone
in the community said "...a taniwha would be too negative
to have", so the artist never finished the mural
and he never came back to Edgecumbe to finish (so
the story goes). Can you see where the head of the
taniwha might have gone?
The artist was Marc Spijerbosch and some of
our local helpers!
Also, the metal railing you can see on the right side of the
picture was installed by the Lion's Team in September 2912
and they also laid levelled out a new concrete footpath
so you can walk alongside this beautiful mural!
Some of the children in Room 7 had aunties, uncles, mums and
dads help with the mural!
was laid by some of the Lions club and also the railing was
installed too. The local people can enjoy looking at this mural
closely as well as keeping safe!
standing next to the beautiful sea mural created by
Mr Spijerbosch looking at the Eastpack building) and was
once called Rangitaiki Fruit Packers Ltd. This kiwifruit business
was founded in 1981.
This is part of the Rangitaiki River Walkerway.
The Rangitaiki River Walkway was tidied up, improved
and a new garden installed along the walkway, with information
signs telling small interesting stories
about Edgecumbe and its local histories.
In 2012, Edgecumbe community members helped
in Working Community Bees around Edgecumbe to improve
and revitalize this lovely small town and the Rangitaiki River
walkway was just one of those projects.
One church is a smaller wooden church found on
the way out of Edgecumbe, going to Te Teko.
The other church is bigger and made out of stone (on
the outside) and is almost opposite Edgecumbe
Primary School.
the 14th of July, 1914. Edgecumbe Primary School is having a big
celebration next year and the school committee and extra helpers,
are very busy planning for this event and helping to clean and
prepare the school for all the visitors for next year!
Once upon a time, the local primary school had been opened
in three places. After they stopped ferrying children across the
Thornton river because it got to dangerous, the opened a
school in a barn on the western bank of the Rangitaaiki river
in 1914 then it moved to where the Otakiri (or it was known
as Riversleigh road ) road meets the Te Teko road in 1915
and children worked in a one-room School.
Today is the third site for Edgecumbe Primary School.
Primary School! Together, our school fields are 'gigantic'!
Edgecumbe College was opened in 1962.
18th of February, 2012! This was a community effort
and so it was a huge family celebration! Room 7 children often talk about
how the skate park has a bowl. The skate park has
ramps and the area is very clean and well looked after.
Well done Edgecumbe!
but it is really called the Edgecumbe Sports Club. On the
same nights the children have rugby practices, you can hear
the Zumba classes with their music and exercises.
It is a very busy rugby club and has strong support
from the mums and dads.
You will find many Local Heroes here too! The mums are cooking
sausage sizzles to raise money for the club, the dads
and coaches are running after and coaching lots and lots
of boys and some girls, how to play ripper rugby and rugby.
Whaea Lesa loves to watch the 'hive of activity' here every
Tuesday and Thursday nights because the community
show how strong they are when they support their kids!
forest that had been hidden for decades and decades beneath the
Rangitaiki river bed, was suddenly pushed up and raised
so now today, you can see many tree stumps in the middle of the river.
This ancient forest, is not far from Edgecumbe, as you paddle or boat towards Thornton beach.
This forest is both wonderful to look at and paddle past as well
as spooky and eerie because we know it was an old
forest hidden for a long time and now it can be seen because
of a natural hazard!
They show damage done around Edgecumbe.Edgecumbe Earthquake - 1987
We have a sleeping volcano only 20 minutes away (Kawerau is closer to it!) and we have a marine volcano called White Island, or Whakaari,only 45minutes boat-ride from Whakatane.
Learn more about Whakaari (White Island) by clicking on the picture below!
Yes...people once lived and worked on Whakaari!
Local-Heroes or Local People-IconsWe have pretty amazing people in Edgecumbe like our rugby coaches, parent helpers...people whogive to the community because they love Edgecumbe!!!
These people are our 'Local Heroes' or 'Local People-Icons'.
Local-Heroes Photo WallOur Interview with Mrs Davey-Emms
The scenery around Edgecumbe is amazing, especially when you go through our native forests!
Look who Whaea Lesa taught once! This person, Jono, is kayaking down the Tarawera River that is only an hour's
drive from here! The Tarawera River comes from the Tarawera Lake.